Comments on: How to Read Years in English

By: Vera

Vera — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:21:29 +0000

How about reading 15 500 BC?

By: Virginia

Virginia — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:35:25 +0000

It’s been a great explanation. I’ll provide my students with it. Thanks for sharing!

By: Virtual Sensei

Virtual Sensei — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:29:57 +0000

Thanks, very useful!!!

By: José Luis

José Luis — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 12:11:18 +0000

Hi,

Thank you very much for such valuable information, especially for those like me, who, having been born in Spain, have to struggle with English every day in the hope that one day I will be able to fully understand what I hear and will manage to speak fluently and accurately…
Thank you so much!

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:36:05 +0000

@Hadas: “Twenty eleven” and “two thousand eleven” are both acceptable. I hear and use “twenty eleven” more frequently though. It’s the same for 2012: “twenty twelve”.

By: Hadas

Hadas — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:06:27 +0000

I’m not a native speaker and I find it very helpful…
How can I read 2011? “twenty eleven”? It doesn’t sound right to me… and 2012?

By: Hasan

Hasan — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:55:57 +0000

If it would make sense, I would offer Turkish reading of years to English. So simple, practicle and sound. For example: 1054: thousand fifty four; 2100: two tousand hundred 503: five hundred three; 1970: thousand nine hundred seven; 1358: thousand three hundred fifty eight.

By: bahar

bahar — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:03:58 +0000

thanks for posting these important informations. today when answering various questions we (me and one of my students) came across a question about the reading of dates. I was confused. so I researched from this site. thank you

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:38:38 +0000

Also,

@David: If you’re looking to be a BBC broadcaster, you can obsess over “correct” English, but an ESL student would probably want to focus on sounding like a native speaker.

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:36:34 +0000

As an American living in the Northeast and Midwest, I’ve never had anyone correct me on “four thirty two” or “ten sixty six”. There doesn’t seem to be one “correct” way other than what sounds “normal,” but I tend to lean towards descriptivism.

I find it interesting that references toward this past decade tend to follow this pattern:

“two thousand one”

While references to the next decade and beyond follow a different one:

“twenty twelve”

Any ideas why?